41Explain the the History of Map making in details
(5/5 Points)
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Answer:
Maps were created in ancient Babylonia (mostly on clay tablets), and it is believed that they were drawn with very accurate surveying techniques. These maps showed topographical features like hills and valleys but also had labeled features. The Babylonian World Map, created in 600 BCE, is considered to be the earliest map of the world. It is unique because it is a symbolic representation of the Earth.
Ancient Greeks created the earliest paper maps that were used for navigation, and to depict certain areas of the Earth. Anaximander was the first of the ancient Greeks to draw a map of the known world, and, as such, he is considered to be one of the first cartographers. Hecataeus, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, and Ptolemy were other well-known Greek map makers. The maps they drew were based on explorer observations and mathematical calculations.
The ancient Greek maps are important to the history of cartography because they often showed Greece as being at the center of the world and surrounded by an ocean. Other early Greek maps show the world as divided into two continents—Asia and Europe. These ideas came largely out of Homer’s works as well as other early Greek literature.
Many Greek philosophers considered the Earth to be spherical, and this knowledge influenced their cartography. Ptolemy, for instance, created maps by using a coordinate system with parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude to accurately show areas of the Earth as he knew it. This system became the basis for today’s maps, and his atlas "Geographia" is considered to be an early example of modern cartography.
In addition to the ancient Greek maps, early examples of cartography also come out of China. These maps date to the fourth century BCE and were drawn on wooden blocks or produced on silk. Early Chinese maps from the Qin State show various territories with landscape features such as the Jialing River system as well as roads. These are considered some of the world’s oldest economic maps.
Cartography continued to develop in China throughout its various dynasties, and in 605 CE an early map using a grid system was created by Pei Ju of the Sui Dynasty. In 801 CE, the "Hai Nei Hua Yi Tu" (Map of Both Chinese and Barbarian Peoples Within the [Four] Seas) was created by the Tang Dynasty to show China as well as its Central Asian colonies. The map was 30 feet (9.1 meters) by 33 feet (10 meters) and used a grid system with a highly accurate scale.
In 1579, the Guang Yutu atlas was produced; it contained over 40 maps that used a grid system and showed major landmarks like roads and mountains as well as the borders of different political areas. Chinese maps from the 16th and 17th centuries continued to develop in sophistication and clearly showed regions that were newly being explored. By the middle of the 20th century, China developed an Institute of Geography that was responsible for official cartography. It emphasized fieldwork in the production of maps focused on physical and economic geography.